The Gene Discovery Shared Resource consists of three separate but interactive cores: 1) the Family Ascertainment Core (run and directed by Dr. Daniel Schaid); 2) the Genotyping Core (run and directed by Drs. Stephen Thibodeau and Rebecca Berry); and 3) the Gene Identification and Mutation Detection Core (run and directed by Drs. David Smith and Wanguo Liu). These three Cores are logical extensions of one another and are intended to provide help and expertise to members of the Cancer Center on various aspects of using modern genetic analyses to localize, identify and characterize genes that are important in both familial and sporadic cancer development. The three cores are directed by experts in their field and are organized as one shared resource to maximize the interaction among the three. They are both conceptually and physically (laboratories and study coordinators are adjacent to each other) inter-related. Although many Cancer Center members have expertise in some of these areas, no single laboratory has expertise in all. The general strategy is that epidemiologic data and biological specimens are collected through the resources available in the Family Ascertainment Core and the Tissue Procurement Shared Resource. The DNA collected can be studies with linkage or association analyses through the resources of the Genotyping Core, and then the actual genes can be sought, identified, and characterized in the Gene Identification and Mutation Detection Core Laboratory.